Worker safety is a critical consideration for owners of industrial plants. Along with complying with federally mandated standards, industrial plant owners regulate themselves in areas such as cleanliness, safety, emissions and hazard substance and material handling. Particularly, plants that use heavy machinery and/or large or small batches of chemicals can be very dangerous to, or have exposure issues with workers.
One industry, in particular, that is regulated because of its product and the working conditions associated with its manufacture is the chemical industry. Chemical plants including but not limited plants preparing pharmaceutical, neutraceuticals, and/or cosmetic products typically use large batches of many different chemicals for mass production of medicines, pharmaceuticals, neutraceuticals, cosmetics, and other products. Many times the chemicals used are highly toxic, with very low exposure limit levels, or are used in such amounts that they are highly potent. Some chemicals may be carcinogenic. While mass production eliminates the costs of small-scale production, new dangers are present due to the amount or quality of chemicals used. Dangers associated with large scale use of chemicals usually include operation and handling of the chemicals. Also, hazards are apparent concerning use and cleaning of the manufacturing machinery.
In addition, during development of many of these chemicals in the pilot scale batch, and in early processing steps workers typically work with very concentrated forms of these highly toxic substances. It has become standard practice to handle these processing steps in “glove boxes” or containment/isolation booths to provide isolation of the chemicals from the operator and other personnel. This is a common practice during the development and dispensing of certain chemicals as a precaution to protect workers. Typically, sealed containers of these chemicals are placed into a clean containment “glove box” or containment booth where the chemicals are weighed or processed in a closed environment which protects the worker from exposure. Hence, there is a need for a process and apparatus which offers significant protection from residual chemicals once the dispensing or processing takes place even though the containers are sealed.
There can be residual toxic chemicals inside the containment “glove box” or containment/isolation booth, which must be manually cleaned after each use with the potential of worker exposure to these chemicals requiring additional precautions such as various protective devices which workers must wear. These devices can be full “space suit” type supplied air suits to disposable non-permeable gowns with hoods and disposable respirators. All of these practices pose risk for worker exposure to highly toxic substances. The present invention teaches an apparatus which facilitates the disposal of the “containment zone” upon completion of this step of the process.
Many chemical plants have instituted emergency protocols for leaks, spillages, explosions or other product migrations, such as dust or vapor. However, smaller problems, such as normal expulsion of fumes, dust particles or slight chemical contact, may go relatively unnoticed, which can represent significant risk. Another cause of worker health concern is the generation of airborne vapors and particulates. These lesser problems may be happening on a smaller scale, but may happen with increased frequency, thus posing a significant health risk to workers.
In the pharmaceutical, neutraceutical and cosmetic industries, large batches of chemicals are typically dispensed into containers for mixing, heating or other processing. These containers typically will have to be coupled to a receiving container as the product receives, for example, future processing or for transportation. More frequently, this coupling is a connection between two plates, that when joined act as a split valve. When the split valve is opened, the chemical is released into the receiving container. Then, the split valve can be shut and the two plates disconnected. This maintains a clean surface, which the worker may come into contact with. However, at some point, the delivering container may need to hold a different chemical. Therein presents a problem, because a mixture of the first chemical and the subsequent chemical may be highly volatile or have contamination issues for the next product, such as the case with pharmaceuticals. Hence, a worker may still have to clean the containers, and thus, be exposed to the chemical. Additionally, the more time spent cleaning the containers decreases the production rate of the pharmaceuticals or other products resulting in lost profits.
In overcoming this problem of worker exposure to chemicals, the present invention is directed to a disposable coupling and liner for use with containers, vessels or glove boxes. The present invention incorporates an easily and inexpensively manufactured device, which can be replaced, instead of cleaned. Disposal may be by incineration, which will cost significantly less than cleaning when labor costs are factored in.